The Shaping of the West Indian Church 1492-1962

Arthur Charles Dayfoot, The Shaping of the West Indian Church 1492-1962, Kingston, Jamaica: The University of the West Indies Press, and Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 1999, xvii + 360 pp.The title of this book may suggest that the author has undertaken the monumental of presenting a comprehensive account of the history of the church in the West Indies during virtually the entire era of European colonialism in the region. His focus, however, is somewhat more limited. As he states in his introduction, the book looks back to see how the pattern of church life had been formed under colonial conditions. There is no attempt to survey the whole field of West Indian church history, which would be too large a task (p.l).Instead, Dayfoot concentrates on the principal historical factors that helped to shape the character of the West Indian church in the period under consideration. In particular, he examines the various European and, later, North American religious traditions and denominations that reached the Caribbean, their development and impact. His focus is on groups that adhere to basic worldwide orthodoxy. Apart from passing references, he does not consider groups such as Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons and other so-called Christian cults, which deny the fundamental beliefs of global Christianity, or those, like Pocomania and Rastafarianism, that use and biblical language, but are closer to African religions.One of the strengths of the book is that Dayfoot seeks consistently to relate his account of the history of the West Indian church to the political, social, economic, cultural and geographical environment in which the church developed. He examines the effects of the church on the wider society and the society's influence on it.Paramount among the environmental features that Dayfoot highlights are the region's tropical setting, its plantation economy, the various European powers involved, and the diversity of its population, especially in terms of race, colour, class, culture and geographical origins. He also gives some prominence to more specifically religious issues, such as relations between the church and the state, theological questions, lay involvement in the church, unity and toleration in a pluralistic religious setting, and the social traits of the various denominations. Though he has the entire Caribbean in view, his special focus is on the birth and evolution of the church in the territories that today constitute the anglophone Caribbean.The author is a retired minister of the United Church of Canada in Ontario who served with the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad and Grenada from 1952 to 1974. He was principal of St Andrew's Theological College in Trinidad from 1961 to 1970. Though the book is written from a clerical perspective, it is scholarly and marked by a commendable degree of fairness. Dayfoot's training enables him to discuss theological and other related issues with an expertise that secular church historians usually lack.The book is largely a revised version of a doctoral dissertation, with the addition of a final chapter covering the period from 1870 to 1962. It is based exclusively on printed sources, many of which, however, are primary documents produced by organizations and individuals involved in the events. Some parts of the book are the result of pioneering research. Much of it, however, is a work of synthesis, often a creative, informative synthesis.Dayfoot, skilfully using a combined chronological and thematic approach, covers a wide range of issues. His book is clearly conceived and well organized. He discusses the evolution of the West Indian church in five distinct periods, beginning with the era of Spanish ascendancy in the region in the 149Os, and the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He shows how initially Spanish Roman Catholicism enjoyed a monopoly of religion among the Spanish settlers and soon among a growing number of Amerindians who were converted to the faith both by coercion and peaceful persuasion, especially in Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad. …

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